Anti-abortion activists say the federal government has broken its pledge to leave abortion out of its maternal health initiative, just as Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrapped up an international summit Friday with a fresh commitment of $3.5 billion to improve maternal health around the world.

At issue is the so-called “morning after”pill, which is available over the counter in Canada and around the world, and which is distributed as part of a federally funded program in Afghanistan. The program received money from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development during the first round of Canadian maternal health funding, which was launched in 2010 with a commitment of $2.8 billion.

After initially denying it, the department confirmed this week that the emergency contraceptive Postinor-2 is distributed as part of a program run by the Afghan Family Guidance Association, affiliated with the International Planned Parenthood Foundation, and funded by Canadian dollars aimed at supporting maternal health.

The drug, known also as levonorgestrel, or Plan B, in Canada, is a contraceptive and does not cause abortion, said Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Amy Mills, quoting the World Health Organization. “WHO confirms that: ‘Levonorgestrel emergency contraceptive pills are not effective once the process of implantation has begun, and they will not cause abortion,’ ” she wrote in an email, adding, “DFATD funds are not used to fund abortion.”

In most cases, the pill prevents pregnancy by delaying or stopping ovulation. If the person taking it is already pregnant, it will not cause a miscarriage, says the organization Canadians for Choice, and will have “no negative effect on the embryo.”

When an egg has already been fertilized, however, taking levonorgestrel will prevent the fertilized egg from implanting on the uterus wall, “thereby preventing you from getting pregnant.”

That is where anti-abortion advocates, such as Mary Ellen Douglas, national organizer of the Campaign Life Coalition, disagree with the federal government claim that it is not supporting abortion with maternal health dollars – a claim Prime Minister Stephen Harper reiterated this week. Because Plan B and other similar drugs can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, Douglas calls them “abortifacients”: substances that will induce an abortion.

“If conception takes place, the newly formed human being cannot implant. It is like pulling the rug out from under the baby.”

Other anti-abortion advocates have also been vocal about their opposition to Plan B and similar drugs. Before the drug was made available over the counter in Canadian pharmacies in 2005, some pharmacists raised concerns about distributing it. In the United States, which also bans development funds from being used to support abortion, USAID once imposed sanctions on Peruvian groups that used U.S. dollars to promote legalization of the morning-after pill in that country. Family planning advocates say it has, in fact, contributed to a reduction in abortions.

Ottawa blogger Patricia Maloney wrote about the issue earlier this year after receiving access-to-information documents that confirmed emergency contraception was used in a federally funded program in Afghanistan. “This is a pretty clear indication to me that we are providing abortion services in Afghanistan,” she wrote.

Many groups and individuals have criticized the federal government for virtually ignoring family planning in its maternal health initiative.

While Harper excluded abortion from the initiative, saying Thursday that it was “too divisive,” he called family planning an essential part of the Canadian push to improve maternal and child health. But dollars spent tell another story.

International Planned Parenthood notes that of $2.28 billion spent as of March 2014, only 0.55 per cent went to family planning, despite the fact that 222 million women around the world lack access to “a range of modern methods of contraception.”

A letter signed by a dozen civil society groups called on the Conservative government to put more money into family planning in its second round of maternal health funding. The organization Action Canada for Population and Development also called on the federal government to end its restrictions on funding safe abortions.

NDP international development critic Hélène Laverdière said she supports the work being done on maternal health, but agrees there should be more money spent on family planning. “It is the best investment we can make in saving women’s lives.”

She added that provided emergency contraception to women in Afghanistan is exactly the way Canada’s maternal health dollars should be spent.

“It’s not abortion, it is contraception,” she said, adding that emergency contraception is often used after rape. “I don’t see why if it is a choice for Canadian women, it cannot be a choice offered to Afghan women.”

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